The ethnically diverse food scene is always a draw for me to take the three plus-hour road trip down to Portland.

This time, I wanted to try out this highly rated Lebanese and Syrian restaurant called Karam.

Top L: gyro salad — Top R: kafta

We went with a very big group, and were the only people at the restaurant — that got me worried a bit.

Slowly people trickled in, and next thing we knew, by the midst of our dinner, the restaurant was packed.

It was also a very good sign that most patrons were of arabic decent, we definitely went to the right place.

There were many interesting dishes that I wanted to try.

Appetizers such as Fataya, a pastry dough wrapped beef, tomatoes and onions; Kibbee balls, bulgar wheat with roast beef and pine nuts, and entrée such as goat casserole; Kibbee Saneeyeh, a layer of bulgar wheat, ground beef and spices, similar to the one at Sunset Gyro; and Molohkie, rice and bread with lamb, molohkie plant (jute family) and spinach.

Of course, two other Middle Eastern staples that I always like to try different restaurants’ interpretations: ful mudamas, cooked fava beans with garlic and spices; and kafta, ground beef with onions and spices, and shaped like sausages.

Just as most Mediterranean restaurants, Karam’s portions were amazingly generous.

There are so many pods scatter around the city: multiple large pods of them in Downtown’s Alder Street, Fifth Ave. and Third Ave., and North Mississippi in the north end of the city; and so much good food came from these trucks.

The one I visited the most is the Belmont Food Truck Pod with Viking Soul Food as our may draw since we cannot get Lefse in Seattle.

I tried the shrimp one that day and it was refreshing and good.

On the side, we had a pickled hard boil egg and it was beautifully purple!

Fairly sure that it was pickled with the sweet cabbage slaw, surkal.

Since I was with more people, perfect chance to eat more than Lefse at Belmont.